教訓は何でも (Kyoukun wa Nandemo)
by NightFall-sensei
Summary: With a rivalry between two opposing sides with only a single neutral force in between them, things seem to be pretty difficult for people at a private school in between Mauville and Verdanturf. And for one of those neutral students, he's about to be thrown into the world of sides and war that he never wanted to be a part of in the first place. Thanks for reading.


Heh, hey guys. NightFall here with, hey guess what, a new story. Please don't hurt me. I know I said I was going to be good about not writing new stories and deleting them, and the last time I wrote a new story, well that didn't go over well with somebody, and it turned into a very long conversation with them. Nevertheless, this is what I do, and I can't promise you anything anymore. I've made promises to not delete stories again, and not to break that one, or not to write new stories as it suits my mood. Truth is I'm just not that great at keeping my promises. And it kills me to know that's who I am, so if you want to flame me for continuing, just know that I already know I'm scum for that, and keep that opinion to yourself. That being said, this is a premise I like, and unlike other stories, it doesn't necessarily borrow from anything like Family Ties and HDD, which is a good sign of it sticking around, but like I said, no promises. As per usual, the information you're looking for is on my profile. Enjoy.

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON.**

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><p>Prologue: The Teachings of War<p>

Have you ever heard of a saying "caught between a rock and a hard place?" Chances are you have, and you usually know what it means when people use it. On one side you have a situation that's less than ideal with a situation on the other that offers very little, if anything, in return. It's also called "picking the lesser of two evils." The only problem is that each is equally terrible for you. While the latter is a no-win situation with a little bit of a positive in return for picking the lesser of two evils, being caught between that rock and a hard place offers no positive that the other doesn't. It'd be the same as flipping a coin to decide on something that really had no difference in the first place. And the biggest problem in dealing with this situation is that there is no third alternative. Just like flipping a coin to decide, you can have heads or tails, no third option. Consider it like a war, where there is one side trying to defeat the other, and vice-versa. Often times, the neutral zone is forced to pick a side with the same consequence no matter which side is ultimately chosen.

While it doesn't often appear to be a large debate, the differences between being a pokémon trainer who focuses on battling and one who specializes in contests usually sparks some kind of conflict. Each has their own idea of the other, and while some common ground is found, there are always examples of how people are trying to distance themselves from one side to the other. But the arguments are usually boiled down to two major debates: battlers are brutes, and coordinators are artists, or coordinators are wimps with no actual battle experience, and battlers are the ultimate athletes. It's no different than a school campus war between the jocks and the nerds. And, ironically enough, the story of ten trainers trying to find common ground in that neutral zone starts in such a place. But instead, with one of those already in the common ground.

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><p>As raindrops tapped against the windowpanes, creating a rhythm as they dropped, the people within view of the window all picked up the pace of their walking to get out of the change in weather. On the other end of the glass, a pair of calm eyes just watched as people opened up their umbrellas, placed their hands on their heads, or just walked as if nothing was different, but shivered in the cooling air. The gray irises shifted from side to side to watch people act like something was evil about the rain. Almost like being out in it was a bad omen.<p>

"You'd probably never think that way, would you?" a voice asked from that same pair of eyes, looking up towards a cupboard above his head. "You're right at home in that kind of place."

The eyes watching from inside a shop window led to the face of a young man no older than fourteen, his pale skin and gray eyes contrasting from just about everyone in the store in front of him. Above him was a shelving unit, stacked with all kinds of figurines, trading cards, video games, and other items. But the one thing he was looking at was a curious creature perched at the very top to watch everyone shop. A blue and white avian with a long wingspan, a small ovular shaped body, and a long beak.

"Hey, Wingull," the boy said, his pokémon turning down to look at him. "Why do you think people hate the rain so much?" he asked, the water and flying mix just turning to the front again, acting like some kind of security guard. "You think it's because people don't like to get wet unless it's on purpose? Or maybe they're worried about the humid climate ruining their clothes if they don't dry them quick enough? I don't know, but where I'm from, the rain is a blessing."

Wingull was barely paying attention, knowing its trainer loved to go on about things like that. Suddenly, though, Wingull's eyes twitched in a single direction, giving a small squawk to alert its trainer. Looking up from behind the desk, despite it almost covering his chest, the boy saw one of the customers looking around suspicious of his surroundings.

"What do you think?" the trainer asked, scratching his dark brown hair, and readjusting the knot on his apron. "Shoplifter?" he questioned, his Wingull shaking its head. "Nah, you're right. Judging by his age, I'd say sixteen," he said, looking up as the flying pokémon agreed. "Getting dangerously close to a place he's not supposed to be. Blush on the cheeks and nervous expression," he identified. "Go for it," he said passively, Wingull taking off from where it was perched, and quickly flew in front of the young man, giving a loud warning call.

"Hey, what gives?" the older boy asked as he looked forward, seeing that the younger trainer from behind the counter could see him.

"You're only allowed in there if you're twenty or older," he said, the other person giving a nervous chuckle before running out, some of the other customers giggling at his expression.

"Kolya-kun did good today, too," one of them said, giving the young trainer a thumbs-up as the boy he named Kolya returned it. "The manager's gonna want to reward you again, thought," he said, Kolya groaning as he leaned over the counter.

"I should've let him go, huh?" he asked, the others all nodding, all of them hearing the loud footsteps that beckoned the call of one that quite honestly scared the pants off of the young boy.

"Kolya!" everyone heard a loud voice shout out, leading up to a door slamming open, Kolya already hiding behind the desk. "I have already heard of your latest exploits, allow me to shake your hand as thanks for what you've done for the establishment!" a man said, well into his twenties, but you would say was still in his teens, wearing just about every single anime stereotype on his body: fingerless gloves, his hair slicked back so it stuck straight, and the largest, most expressive eyes you'd think were last seen on the inhabitants of a UFO.

"Um, don't you think you're overreacting a bit, sir?" Kolya said, obviously terrified of this kind of person, seeing that his hand was already in the other man's. "Oh, dear Lord, no," he quickly pleaded, getting shaking around like a ragdoll as his manager's hands were able to lift him off the ground.

"You have done more for this humble shop of mine than I ever thought possible!" the man said, quickly falling to the ground on his knees with tears in his eyes as Kolya tried his best to sneak away. "You have stopped every crime you see within these walls, made sure all our guests are greeted with a smile, and of course, give this place the greatest reputation of any game store in the entire Hoenn region!" he declared, the others in the store all clapping. "As thanks for this…," he started, noticing that his employee was no longer in front of him. "Where?"

Selling him out all too quickly, the others in the store pointed at the exit sign, the manager seeing both the trainer and his pokémon trying to get out through the door, quickly grabbing onto both of them.

"Sadly, your shift is not over yet," the manager said in a much more normal voice, Kolya surprised he could speak so softly. "While on the subject, I made need you for work this weekend, if you're free later in the day," he mentioned, Kolya looking up at him as he began going through a small planner from his back pocket.

"I have a few appointments in the morning, but I could probably come by after lunch sometime," Kolya answered. "Did the others cancel their shift, or something?"

"No, we're doing a promotional for one of the new games being released, and I was hoping you'd join us," the man said, the young trainer unsure of what that meant. "Quite frankly, you're the only one who fits the basic personage of the main character, and having you present yourself as him would be really helpful for the sales, and…," he began trailing off, seeing Kolya about to walk back through the exit. "Not so fast!"

"Look, when I agreed to take this job, I had three very basic rules, and you've already broken two of them," Kolya began. "First, you don't treat me like I'm a godsend every time I do something right. Two, you stop it with the creepy antics when it's my shift. And three, I…don't…do…cosplay!" he shouted.

"It would only be for a day, and you'd get to show off in front of your classmates," the manager said, almost putting Kolya into a choke hold under his arm. "I'm sure they'd like that."

"I don't doubt they would," Kolya admitted. "But it's a personal thing and I will not compromise on it."

"I'll pay you my normal overtime rates as opposed to student rates," the man offered, Kolya cringing before turning back to him, the manager with a giant smile on his face.

"What time?" the trainer asked defeated, the others in the store clapping in again at how easily Kolya's mind had been changed, although were almost scarred by the manager's "happy dance."

"Are you sure, you're going to be okay with all the extra work, Kolya-kun?" one of the customers asked as the trainer and his Wingull finally managed to relax behind the counter. "You normally don't have so many appointments all in one day."

"It's just normal grooming," the trainer responded. "A few of the coordinator students want to pretty up their pokémon before their have to perform on Sunday. And I was the only one available in those time slots. It should be fine if I just take my time."

"I think it's amazing you're able to do both this job and your normal school duties," another of the patrons said, Kolya smirking as his Wingull slowly rested itself on his shoulder. "Which job do you think gets more stressful?"

"Well, about a year ago it was this one since I couldn't really speak Japanese so well," Kolya answered, helping another customer check out their items. "And apart from dealing with the manager's antics every now and again, this had gotten a bit easier."

"That's right, you're actually from Kalos, aren't you?" the first customer remembered. "You only spoke Russian when you first came here."

"I was learning Japanese, but conversation was still something that was impossible," Kolya said. "I like to think working here made it easier, getting to talk with everyone else every day. And getting to work with the trainers over at school helped a lot, as well."

"You must miss your family, being away for so long, and not getting the chance to go back," the second said as Kolya looked over at the Wingull on his shoulder.

"Well, I talk to them about once a week now, and it's not like they can't come and see me," he answered. "Besides, I've been with Wingull long enough that I do consider him to be a part of my family. No matter how annoying he can get. I think I've had him for about six years now."

"Why hasn't he evolved?" a third customer asked, eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Because I'm not like the other trainers in my school," Kolya answered, having no problem with his unevolved pokémon. "The students in my school are split between battlers, coordinators, and breeders. I'm in that third group which is why I have the grooming appointments to take care of Saturday. The campus is off on Route 117 in between Mauville and Verdanturf. Battling trainers are in the building closer to Mauville, and coordinators are in the building closest to Verdanturf."

"Don't you have your own building?" the first customer asked.

"Not really," the breeding student said. "Breeding trainers only make up about ten percent of the student body, so there's really no need. We work directly with the Daycare Center to take care of pokémon as our 'field training', so to speak. But aside from that, all of our classes are in one of the two buildings, and we usually switch back and forth which one we're in."

"I've heard a rumor about your school, Kolya," the manager said, coming back in from the back of the store. "That your school is famous for one thing above all others. And that is the constant war that goes on that place," he said, dramatically placing an army helmet on his head, beginning to march around the store as others joined in his insanity.

"Yeah, there's that," Kolya admitted. "The battling and coordinating students definitely have different opinions, and it usually shows in how they treat each other. But it never escalates into more than just a competition between the two groups. There's definitely a rivalry between the two, but I've never gotten involved. The breeders are like the neutral zone in a giant battlefield. We're the medical center that doesn't care which army you're from. We'll patch you up regardless."

"Such a man! Such a statement!" the manager cried out, falling back to his knees with tears flowing from his eyes, Kolya trying to keep his annoyance on the inside. "But surely, there must be some picking of sides between your own comrades."

"More or less," Kolya agreed. "When you get into your third year, you're generally slated for specialty work with the school, and either work directly for the contest or battling students. And some individual students will try to hire you as personal breeders for their pokémon's care."

"Wait, so sometimes breeders are actually hired by the students to work exclusively for them?" one of the customers asked as Kolya nodded. "But if there aren't as many breeders, then why would you want to take them away from other people?"

"A lot of the students are from the upper class of society, and then can usually offer a decent paycheck for a breeder's services," Kolya answered. "And sometimes a breeder has a special talent that other trainers think is invaluable to their pokémon's care, and try to snatch them up, even before they get to their third year."

"You're a second year student, right?" the customer asked as Kolya once again, nodded. "Do you ever get offers like that?"

"I specialize in pokémon nutrition," the Kalos national answered. "I'm pretty much just a glorified chef who makes pokémon food. But for some people, that's a good quality to have, so I've been offered to be a personal breeder a time or two. And while it does give my ego a bit of a boost, I've never actually taken anyone up on it. I just don't want to have to pick a side before I really have to. I'd rather not get involved with stuff like that."

"Wait, I just realized that you're technically in junior high," the same customer noticed, Kolya agreeing. "I thought that school was a high school."

"It is, but the breeding students are trained from when they're in their middle school years as opposed to the battlers and coordinators who are trained in their high school years," Kolya answered. "It's kinda confusing, especially when you get into the school's joint university, and you've got an eighteen year old breeder who's working on his graduation thesis. But that's still a couple years off for me, and it's only high school students around the school."

"So can you actually battle?" one of the customers from the back asked as Kolya looked up from the desk to see him. "In a school that has a never-ending war going on, shouldn't you be able to defend yourself with your pokémon as opposed to just keeping it as a pet?"

Turning back to Kolya, they saw that he was frozen in place, even shivering a little bit. His Wingull was now off of his shoulder and back on its perch. But as Kolya lifted up his head, the water and flying mix looked like it was ready to attack.

"Maybe at some point I could battle like a regular trainer," Kolya said, rather solemnly at that. "And maybe somewhere along the way, I wanted to be that person who travelled the world to collect badges and defeat his rival. Be like a trainer that you make legends about, but then something happen to me I think was for the best."

"What?" the customer asked.

"I grew up," he returned with that solemn grin. "Sometimes I think I grew up too fast, and maybe I did. But nevertheless, I learned that not everyone is destined to be the savior of mankind, and that sometimes, you have to go with what life gives you. A bit corny or preachy sure, but it's not like there's anything I can do about who I am anymore. I am who I am, and I don't want that to chance. I love the way my life is, and when it does have to change, maybe I'll be ready."

This was a side of Kolya they saw very rarely. Everyone remembered when he first came to Hoenn, and could barely speak Japanese, or English for that matter. They remembered having to call him Nikolai instead of his normal nickname since they didn't want to overstep any boundaries. And even if he was friendlier, he always kept that solemn smile when someone talked about pokémon battles. It was like a reaction to anything. There was a trigger, and when it was set off, something happened as a result.

The customer who'd brought it up sneered a little bit, and then left the store without buying anything. Kolya took in a breath, and then looked back up at the people in the shop, and just smiled it off. The others were glad to see that he was back to normal, or whatever counted for normal with the manager around. And life went on.

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><p>Later in the night, Kolya was helping his supervisor close up the shop, all the others having left, but the thought of that last customer's question was still in the back of his head. But by this point, Kolya was mostly over it, his pokémon helping to pick up anything that was left over from the customers, and by the time they had finished, the stars were already lighting the way back home.<p>

"Be careful on your way home, tonight, Kolya," the manager said with a thumbs-up, placing a ninja mask over his face. "I've heard about some strange goings on in the neighborhood lately," he warned, trying to act as stealthy as he could, circling around his foreign employee. "But I will watch over you until you get back to your dorm, if it'll make you feel safe."

"Believe me when I say this," Kolya started, pulling back on the manager's mask, tearing it off his head. "If you follow me around the city in a mask like this, you'll be arrested, and I'll have to spend the night in a police station to get you out, which won't help me or you in anyway, whatsoever. I'll be fine," he said, draping a side-hangin bag over his thin frame, standing at least a half foot under his manager, putting him at around five foot three.

"Just promise me you'll be careful," the older man said, showing much more concern than his previous actions.

"I promise," Kolya said, waving to him before setting off in the dark, making sure to stay in a well-lit area, the rain from before still pouring down hard, but with some enjoyment from Wingull. "Maybe you do have the Rain Dish ability as opposed to Keen Eye," Kolya joked as they walked a bit further, having nothing to protect him from the rain, but that wasn't what he needed protection from.

At that moment, a short, plump figure jumped out of the shadows, wearing a mask similar to the one that Kolya's manager wore to protect him. Brandishing no pokéball, but instead, a common knife, even Kolya's calm attitude abandoned him as he took a few steps back.

"Don't make this hard on yourself, kid," the man said, standing just a few inches taller than Kolya. "Just give me all the money you have, and anything valuable, as well. Do that, and nothing bad happens," he said, Kolya about to comply, but suddenly, a thought rang out in his head.

"…_shouldn't you be able to defend yourself with your pokémon as opposed to just keeping it as a pet?"_ he remembered, looking at the Wingull on his shoulder, the man holding out his hand for what he had on him.

"Why did I stop battling?" Kolya asked, the mugger looking at him like he'd gone crazy, granted the look in his eye didn't help with that. "I could've been a good battler if I'd stuck with it."

"Quit stalling, kid, and give me your money!" the thug demanded, Kolya smirking as he looked up at him.

"There's a reason I decided to grow up faster than I should have," Kolya say with that same solemn smile on his face. "And it's because of this," he said, making a single turn, Wingull leaping off of his shoulder, the two suddenly walking in the opposite direction. The man originally in front of them suddenly turned white as a sheet, falling forward completely unconscious. "That's why I grew up."

As Kolya made his way down the opposite stretch of road to get back to his school, he was unaware that he wasn't just the subject of mugging, or his manager's antics. He was the subject of a different matter as well, two people in the shadows of an office, looking over a file with his name on it.

"This is the information you requested about one Nikolai Surkov, known by many as Kolya," one of the two said. "His registered pokémon is a Wingull he claims to have owned for six years despite being fourteen years old. He's been requested to be a personal breeder ten times since the start of this last school year a month ago. His specialty is pokémon nutrition and culinary skills. Do you mind my asking why you wanted this information?"

"For a very special reason," the second figure said. "There is a war going on here, and if it is ever going to come to an end, we are going to have to draft some recruits. Surkov is one of those I like to think has what it takes to be that kind of soldier. But he's not the only one, so bring me more!" the figure demanded, looking out over the battlefield that was the school campus. "May this war come to a speedy conclusion?"

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><p>Characters:<p>

Nikolai "Kolya" Surkov: Wingull. NightFall00

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><p>Prologue Complete: Sort of a mixed bag here at the beginning, in my opinion. Not the greatest thing in the world, but I won't lie, I made myself laugh a bit with the scenes of Kolya's manager. And if any of are able to draw comparisons between myself and the character, that's probably because this story's inspiration is made on two things. One is my being a foreigner in Japan, and showing the reality of that situation in a way that is somewhat entertaining. And two is that while I don't like the pokémon anime, I do think that there are parts of it that could be expanded on to make it better. I remember early on in the Diamond and Pearl series, there was this tiny debate between whether or not it was better for someone to be a coordinator or a battler. And I thought that differentiation between the two could be such a great element, but because of the media pokémon is, it sort of steps aside for its normal stuff. And while I don't like the pokémon anime as much anymore, I still get the opportunity to share this kind of story with you guys. I've had campus war stories, but this story is going to be about this war, and I think I can actually do it. I won't promise anything, like I said, but after having this much fun and such a turnaround in my emotion from the author's notes above, I like this story. Like I said, information is on my profile, and as always, thanks for reading, and until we meet again, ja na.<p> 


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